[b]Gotham City
1:21 AM[/b]

The cops pried open the sealed metal barrel with crowbars. They slid the metal cover off. The scent of decay came wafting up out of the barrel, overpowering the smell of blood and flesh. The cops gave me a wide berth, not making eye contact as I approached the barrel. As Gordon's men they knew the routine by now.. The flood lights cast an eerie glow on the blood in the barrel, turning it from dark crimson to inky black. Even in the darkness I could see body parts floating in the coagulated soup.

"A dockworker called it in an hour ago," said Gordon. "We're in the process of identifying them. Looks like three dead men."

Two different types of wrist watches attached to two severed arms, two pairs of shoes attached to severed feet. The shoes are green gator skin, tacky and mob chic The more conservative wrist watches don't match the gaudy taste of the shoes owner. The other pair of shoes are size fifteens, feet too large to belong to the severed arms. Four men so far. Another arm floated by wearing a white gold wedding band. The wedding ring arm is thicker and paler than the watch arms, the flesh not matching the ankles of the severed feet.

"Five," I said softly. "Five at least."

Gordon shook his head. He pressed a handkerchief to his face and leaned in to glance at the bloody contents of the drum. 

"This area, it's a Falcone stronghold. Nothing gets on and off the docks without their say so-"

I knew exactly where Gordon's train of thought was headed. I already had my HUD booted up and connecting with my hard drive at home, which in turn was connecting to both FBI and Interpol databases to search for my query. 

"This was a message," Gordon continued. "Left out in the open like that for everyone to find. I'm going to send some cars to Russo's home and roust him, sweat him and see where he was tonight."

Billy "The Beaut" Russo, acting boss of the Gnucci Crime Family. Ever since Gordon, Harvey Dent, and I put Carmine Falcone behind bars, Russo and the Gnucci's have been trying to muscle in on the Falcone Family's rackets. A pending gang war had been brewing for nearly a year now, but now it looked like it was about to go hot.

[i]MATCH FOUND[/i]

The HUD scrolled information across my eyes rapidly. Pages and pages of data from Interpol flashed by quickly. I speed read, but I managed to get the gist of the report.

"I don't think Russo was responsible."

Gordon arched an eyebrow at me. "What do you mean?"

"This brutality - chopping men up and stuffing their parts into a barrel - doesn't fit the mob mentality. Displaying them in public, yes, but usually shot up and easily recognizable. This MO is someone else."

"Who, exactly?"

"Russians, Serbs, Albanians. [i]Kovsh supa[/i], Russian for 'Bucket of Blood' is a traditional Red Mafiya declaration of war. The rest of the Slavic crime syndicates adopted it and use it regularly to intimidate targets."

Gordon looked back at the barrel and crinkled his nose. "It's certainly not Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes... I still want to roust Russo and his men."

"It's not a bad idea, if only to let him know someone else is out there." 

The gang war that I've been trying to keep a cap on ever since Falcone went to jail is threatening to explode into the streets, and now it looks like a new player has entered the fray. I looked back the barrel one last time, letting the sensors in my cowl soak up any and all data they can find. Gordon motioned his men to come back to the drum as I started to retreat back into shadow.

Gordon looked towards the where I was slowly fading from sight. 

"We don't know of any major Eastern European players here in the city. Do you?"

"I soon will."